The Natural History of Fear (#54)

Big Finish Main Range

Boring. A lot of doublespeak, like a cross between 1984 and A Clockwork Orange.
It’s a bit of strange trip down a totalitarian state that controls the
minds and emotions of its people. The state wants all of its citizens
to be happy. The persistence of memory. Ahhh, nice quotes pulled from
the conversations and soliloquies by the Doctor. Or is it the Doctor?
This is almost like a Dr. Who audio not written for Doctor Who. Which
is what it pretty much is, ultimately.

It’s a bit convincing that the Doctor is the Editor, gone
underground, destroying his memories, protecting the state and
destroying Charley. Like they’re coming back to themselves with no
escape. It’s very well written to cover up the people and reality that
is very changeable. The Doctor as a hero? A society revealed? It’s
all very well written and tied in. However, like in The Sixth Sense, where there’s a hook, a spin-around, surprise at the end. And much like that movie, it’s a bit disappointing.

The Editor, the Conscience, the Censor. All leading the society
forward, allowing revolution to keep things moving. Guiding the society
to a new social and political order. An 8-legged race of beings that
are in a society that is moves into revolution. Ending on a why. I
think I would’ve enjoyed it more if I actually realized, from the
beginning, who was who and what role they were playing. It does play to
the changing nature of what it means to exist and what it means to be a
personality. What is reality but who we think we are? That is the
best of this story. With the babble-speak at the beginning, it put me
off. I got bored. Things start to get interesting in part II, then
part III is better, then part IV the best and definitely most
interesting. But by then, it was a matter of just getting through the
first parts to get to the ending.

Then again, it’s a change, a different take on the new universe. So
for that, I would give it a four jelloid rating. Do I put it in the
classification of very good or just good? Despite feeling disconnected
from the story, I would be willing to give it a 4 jelloid rating if it
made me feel more. But the ending returns me to the beginning and the
plodding moments of the talking, talking, talking. And I am never, ever
sure how the title fits in, either. So I must, in the end, give it a
mere three jelloid rating.